Five-time Grammy award winner and Princeton, New Jersey native Mary Chapin Carpenter has been producing country/folk/rock standards for nearly 25 years. She has earned fans and accolades for her ten studio albums and countless live performances. Her latest album, "Ashes and Roses," self-penned by Carpenter, is a reflection of her life - grieving over her father's death, going through a divroce, and concerns about her own health.

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Five time Grammy award winner and Princeton, NJ native Mary Chapin Carpenter has been producing country/folk/rock standards for nearly 25 years. She has earned fans and accolades for her ten studio albums and countless live performances. Carpenter grew up on the likes of The Mamas & the Papas and Judy Collins. After graduating from Brown in 1981, Carpenter decided to keep music as a hobby and focus on a career. That changed quickly after a few job interviews, and was signed to a deal with Columbia a short while afterwards.

Although Carpenter initially found success when Columbia touted her as a country act, many have argued that her style is far too broad to be characterized as a strictly country or folk. Carpenter herself has long expressed her disdain for music categorization, explaining that she loves many different styles of music and draws from varied sources for inspiration. Carpenter's latest studio effort, entitled Ashes and Roses, will be released this June 12th on Zoe Records. Carpenter kicks off a North American tour in July making stops in Denver, Calgary, Alberta, Atlanta, and other cities to support her new release. You can find her tour schedule here.

Having already found success as the vocalist/guitarist for the Irish band The Frames and as half of the folk rock duo The Swell Season, musician Glen Hansard is venturing out as a solo artist. His debut album, Rhythm and Repose, is slated for a June 19th American release on the ANTI record label. The album, Hansard's first since The Swell Season's 2009 Strict Joy, was recorded over the past year and a half in New York City.

To promote the new album, Hansard will be touring the US in June, followed by a two month stint in Europe. In the fall Hansard will reurn to the States for a month, and then back to Europe through mid-December. Hansard a native of Dublin, is in an Irish rock band and a multi-national folk duo and recorded his solo debut in New York. It will be interesting, at the very least, to see how his different fan-bases and audiences will receive this upcoming album and tour.

Although Michael Kiwanuka, born to Ugandan parents in North London, first started out in music as a session guitarist, it is his soulful voice and emotional songwriting that have made him one of Britain's up and coming singer-songwriters. His voice and style tap into vibes reminiscent of artists like Bill Withers and Otis Redding, the later whom Kiwanuka credits along with Bob Dylan as inspiring his folk-inflected soul music. After spending time recording guitar for rap and R&B acts and doing some small jam shows, Kiwanuka realized he had much more to express in musically and decided to try his hand at songwriting. When friends fell in love with his demo tapes, Kiwanuka realized he had found his calling.

Kiwanuka is XPN's Artist To Watch this month, and has released 2 EP's with Communion Records in 2011, and gained exposure traveling with Adele on her 2011 tour. Kiwanuka's first album, Home Again, was released this March by Polydor Records. The record peaked at number 4 in Kiwanuka's native UK. This June and August, Kiwanuka will tour the United States in support of his studio debut.